Friday, January 09, 2009

Good Will'in It

Lately I haven't been shopping all that much. I rarely purchase new clothing. Mostly because although I am still losing weight, I haven't been dropping the pounds nearly as fast as I was in the past.

I can currently wearing a size 10/12 depending on the cut. But, I have been wearing all 12's. Why you ask? Because I am too cheap to go out and buy new clothes.

I am trying to stay within my budget and not put anything on credit cards. Not only does it suck, but it makes it hard to have a complete wardrobe when I keep losing weight.

Enter in my new store of choice. Good Will. Yes, I have been shopping regularly at the Good Will and have noticed a few things.

There are a lot of really short people in the world. You have no idea how many times I have tried something on and it turn into high waters.

People seem to like really short waisted sweaters. I prefer my sweater to hit somewhere between 2-6 inches below the waistband of my pants to avoid showing everyone my pale, slightly loose skin. Most sweaters either hit my thighs or barely skim the waistband of my pants.

Why do people cut the tags out of their clothing and then donate it???? I makes me crazy when I can't tell if it is a small, medium or large?

They never really have what I am looking for. This weekend I will be hitting a few Good Will's because I am going on a cruise in April and I need some summer clothing. NOTHING that I have from last year still fits except for 2 t-shirts. No shorts, skirts, skorts, capri's or even dresses. Basically I have to get a decent summer wardrobe with little to no cash.

I have found some great finds. I got my winter coat there for $9.00. It isn't really my style, but it is warm and fits. I figure I can focus on the style when I actually invest in a good winter coat when I get to goal.

I got quite a few Christmas decorations there along with some pajamas that I really needed. I was still wearing drawstring shorts and a t-shirt from before I started losing weight.

The one big purchase that I have to make is for a new swimsuit. I am NOT looking forward to it considering that I do have quite a bit of loose skin on my thighs and my arms. I also won't buy a used one because to me that is the same as buying someone's used panties. Not gonna happen.

Not sure where I am going to find a decent selection of swimsuits in February/March, but it definitely won't be at the Good Will.

9 comments:

It's almost impossible to shop at Goodwill here. I live in a college town and all the best stuff is bought up right away. Although, we found shirts and pants for $5 at regular stores like Old NAvy and Target around Christmas. Target also had swimsuits out. You might want to check them out.

Check eBay. I have found some gorgeous clothing there for amazingly small prices...and you don't have to use credit cards. You can set up PayPal through a checking account (we use the debit card for ours.)

I buy all my Curves t-shirts and other gear there, and just yesterday got one that was brand new and cost me $4.

I find, too, that thrift shopping means you just have to do it routinely, and even think off-seasonally--I buy anything I know I will want even if the time of year is wrong for it--I can put it away. And I buy a LOT of things for the Kid to grow into. We never miss a 50% off sale day, but I still check all the thrift shops at least once a week.

I also cannot stand to buy a lot of smaller clothes until a.) I have a lot of extra money, b.) they are actually clothes that I look better in and not just smaller clothes that still don't look that great on me, and c.) when I'm sure that I've achieved significant weight loss that is going to last for a while.

As for the swimsuit, there was some store that had 8 dollars in the name. Everything in the store was eight dollars, except for a few things over by the cashier that said in really big letters that it was NOT eight dollars. Like maybe a leather jacket was twenty-five dollars.

Anyway, I can't remember the exact name of the place, but it has leftover clothes that didn't sell on some shopping network show. And I didn't go there looking for swimsuits, but since they are so hard to find and they had five or six left in my size I bought two of them. And they were the expenive supposed to hold you in kind of swimsuits that I could never afford, but here they were for eight dollars.

So maybe you could find one of these stores in your area. Good luck finding a place to shop, and keep up the good work.

I love shopping at Goodwill and other thrift stores! And, like Churlita, I am a fan of Old Navy and Target for affordable clothes. I actually think this is the perfect time of year to shop for a swimsuit, as the stores are always way ahead seaonally.

I love shopping at second hand stores.. it doesn't mean you are being cheap.. Once a year I get to go to Old navy to buy a few new items and I try to get stuff that is on sale.. so I still like to buy new stuff that fits and looks good on me.. good for you with keeping the weight off..